Soap leaf dispensing system

ABSTRACT

A soap leaf packet for individually dispensing packets from a stack thereof contained within a housing, includes a wrapper having a plurality of flaps foldable about a soap leaf and which are seguentially dispensable from the bottom of the stack. The wrapper is provided with a tab having two segments with one serving as a depending pull tab which, when activated, elevates one wrapper flap, thus pushing up an overlying wrapper flap, so that continued pulling on the tab opens up one flap and urges the other flap to engage the pull tab of the next-above packet, to insure its projection through a bottom opening in the housing and to cause the opening of the other flap. In this manner the contained soap leaf is automatically readied for grasping by the user.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Present methods of hand soap dispensing in public lavatories generallycomprise liquid soap pumps, dry powder dispensers, individually wrappedsmall bars of soap or simply a bar of soap shared by all. Each of thesemethods is more or less wasteful of soap and is unhygienic and messy.This problem is exacerbated in lavatories on vehicles, where space islimited and the usage frequent.

The recent introduction of soap in thin bands or wafers, formed intosmall pieces which are completely consumed with each washing, ispotentially neater and less wasteful than the earlier methods. A typicalmethod of manufacturing such soap may comprise the extrusion of a liquidsoap compound onto a paper or substitute backing, to provide a pluralityof individual wafers on a continuous roll. The soap may then bedispensed by unrolling the paper and peeling the soap wafers off asrequired. This method has the disadvantage that more than one wafer isexposed while removing one, thereby exposing one or more of theremaining wafers to possible contamination. Obviously, such anarrangement is extremely wasteful and thus uneconomical.

By the present invention, an improved dispensable wafer or leaf soapconstruction is provided which avoids the drawbacks of known dispensingmethods and yields a most economical and efficient manner of offeringindividualized soap leafs.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

In UK Patent No. 2,056,902 issued Mar. 25, 1981 to Lee there isdisclosed an apparatus for producing, storing and dispensing bands offoamed detergent or soap. The soap, in a foamed viscous liquid form, isdeposited as individual wafers onto a continuously moving paper backing,thence being dried in place and the paper then made up into a roll. Thewafers are dispensed by unrolling the paper until a wafer is accessibleand peeling it from the paper backing.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,122,108 issued Dec. 22, 1914 to Hamilton discloses apackage comprising a receptacle or cabinet holding sheets of paperwherein the removal of one sheet automatically engages it with the nextsheet, partially withdrawing it.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,544 to Shweinsberg, dated May 20, 1986 showspacket-shaped folders for storing flat articles, arranged one after theother and tab-interlocked so that raising the first file partiallywithdraws the second.

Neither these nor any other prior art known to the applicant employs atwice-folded tab to provide the combined operation of engaging thepacket before it, serving as a handle for removing the packet from ahousing or cartridge and which partially unwraps the withdrawn packet toexpose the soap wafer for easy removal and use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object, advantage and feature of the present invention is to providea novel construction of packaged individual wafers or leafs of thin soapor other consumable material of like form, the packages each having aseparate wrapping which is cut and folded in such a fashion as tocompletely enclose the wafer and additionally provide an extended tabfor grasping and removing a single packet from a stack of packets.

A further object is to fold each packet wrapping in a manner that whenpackets are stacked for dispensing, a projecting flap on the firstpacket is positioned to engage an extended tab on the second packet asthe first packet is being withdrawn by pulling on its own extended tab.

Still another object is that the arrangement of folds in a pocketwrapper is such that in withdrawing a projecting tab, two flaps on thepacket are unfolded to expose the contents for easy withdrawal.

Another object is to provide a dispensing apparatus particularly adaptedfor public use in vehicles, that is, quickly cleanable and serviceable,light in weight, compact and inexpensive to manufacture and maintain.

Another object is to provide a method of stacking the packets in theproper position with respect to the adjacent packets such that theirrelationship is maintained to effect the described lifting and unfoldingaction.

Another object is to provide a dispensing apparatus for a stack ofpackets having specifically folded wrappings with pressure means urgingthe bottommost stack packet through a slot through which a single packetcan be withdrawn by means of an automatically extended tab exposed foreasy grasping.

With these and other objects in view which will more readily appear asthe nature of the invention is better understood, the invention consistsin the novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fullydescribed, illustrated and claimed with reference being made to theattached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container stocked with packets andillustrates means for withdrawing a single packet by grasping anextended tab and pulling perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of thecontainer as well as parallel to the plane of the packet.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the packet wrapper opened out and showing asoap leaf in place preparatory to folding the wrapper therearound.

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the folded packet.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the packet shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of a portion of the container illustratingthe packets sufficiently separated to show the relative position of thefolds and tabs thereon, with the bottom packet ready to be dispensed.

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of a portion of the container illustrating afirst packet partially withdrawn and partially open and its engagementwith the tab on the second packet.

FIG. 7 is a side elevation of a portion of the container illustrating afirst packet completely withdrawn and open and a second packet with thewithdrawal tab extended.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, particularly FIG. 1, the presentinvention will be seen to relate to a dispensing system including ahousing or dispenser 2 containing a plurality of separate packets,generally designated 4, and which are intended to be individuallydispensed or withdrawn from the housing 2 to provide the user with asingle-use soap leaf or wafer 6, shown in FIG. 2.

The dispenser housing or container 2 comprises opposed side walls 8--8joined to a front wall 10, back wall 12 and upper and lower walls 14,16respectively, so as to provide an inner cavity 18 adapted to receive asubstantial number of the packets 4. The container bottom wall 16 isformed with a cut-out or notch 20 in its forward edge 22 for reasonswhich will become apparent hereinafter. The front wall 10 also isprovided with an opening 24 preferably forming a triangular cut-out asdefined by two upwardly and inwardly inclined edges of the front wall10. Such an opening 24 will be understood to provide ready means for auser or maintenance personnel to easily recognize that a limited numberof packets 4 remain in the container 2. It will be appreciated that inview of the triangular configuration of the cut-out 24, as soon as thelast or uppermost packet 4 in the container passes below the apex 28 ofthe opening 24, a clear visible signal is conveyed as to the limitednumber of packets remaining. In view of the opening edges 26, whichslant all the way to a point just short of the lower wall 16, it will beseen that complete containment of the remaining packets is assured by atleast some portion of the front wall 10. Alternatively, openings 24 ofvarious other configurations may be utilized.

An appropriate follower 30 is positioned within the cavity 18 atop theuppermost packet 4 to positively advance all of the packets downwardly,following the withdrawal of each packet from the bottom, as will bedescribed later. This follower 30 may comprise any block of any suitablematerial of nominal mass so as to assist the gravitational force actingupon the stack of packets 4. Since the dispenser 2 may be mounted ordisposed in other than a vertical position, it will be understood that aspring-urged follower mechanism may be employed but otherwise the costof such mechanism is an unnecessary expense in the production of theinstant economical system.

The specific construction of the individual packets 4 is most criticaland is shown most clearly in FIG. 2 of the drawings wherein it will beseen that each packet comprises an envelope or wrapper 32 formed from asingle blank of appropriate material such as paper or plastics. Theselected material will be understood to possess a minimal degree ofstiffness for reasons which will become obvious following a descriptionof the operation of the present dispensing system.

The wrapper blank will be seen to include a rectangular bottom panel 34having major and minor dimensions, comprising the largest portion of thewrapper, and upon which the soap leaf or wafer 6 is disposed. Extendingfrom each short end of the bottom panel 34 is a side flap 36, with thejuncture therebetween defining a side fold 38. Each side flap 36 extendsfrom the bottom panel 34 a distance greater than one-half thelongitudinal extent of the bottom panel, as depicted at 37, such thatwhen the two side flaps 36--36 are folded toward one another, the outeredges 40--40 thereof will overlap to fully contain the soap wafer 6.Notches 68 in side flaps 36--36 insure preliminary access to the wafer 6when the flaps are closed. With continued reference to FIG. 2, it willbe noted that a rear flap 42 extends from one other edge or rear fold 44of the bottom panel while a front flap 46 projects from a front fold 48,along the remaining edge of the bottom panel. Again, when the two latterflaps 42,46 are folded toward one another, the outer edges 50 and 52thereof will overlap to fully contain the soap wafer 6 to insure thefull envelopment of the soap wafer 6 within the wrapper 32, prior to itsbeing dispensed from the housing 2.

An important feature of the present invention involves the constructionand cooperating relationship of a tab 54 integral with the wrapper frontflap 46. This tab 54 extends normal to, and from the intermediateportion of the flap outer edge 52 and includes an outermost, pullsegment 56 joined to a top segment 58 and providing an intermediate foldline 60. The axial extent of the top segment is equal to the distancebetween the front flap fold line 48 and the outer edge 52 while theshorter pull segment 56 is of an axial extent less than the minordimension of the bottom panel 34 and more particularly, as will be seenfrom FIG. 2, is less than the minor dimension of the bottom panel 34minus the minor dimension of the rear flap 42.

Each separate packet 4 is completed by folding the wrapper 32 about acontained soap wafer 6, to arrive at the ready packet as shown in FIGS.3 and 4 of the drawings. This operation involves, initially,sequentially folding the two side flaps 36--36 inwardly into anoverlapping arrangement and, subsequently, folding the front flap 46inwardly and over the folded side flaps. The tab 54 is folded 180degrees about an end fold line 62 such that its top segment 58 flushlyengages and fully overlaps the undersurface 64 of the front flap portionof the wrapper blank. The remaining tab pull segment 56 is then folded180 degrees, along its fold line 60 which will be understood to engageand wrap around the fold line 48 also. From a review of FIGS. 3 and 4 itwill be seen that the extents of the free edge 66 of the tab pullsegment 56 and the outer edge 50 of the rear flap 42 on the other sideof the packet are such that the sum of their two extents is less thanthe minor extent of the bottom panel 34. Some minor deviation from theabovedescribed dimensional relationships may exist with the presentinvention as long as the tab free edge 66 is both accessible through thecontainer bottom wall opening 20 as well as engageable with the rearflap outer edge 50 of the packet therebeneath, as will become apparentfrom the description of the operation of the present system, nextfollowing.

A plurality of the above-described packets 4 are stacked one uponanother within the cavity 18 of the housing 2, each with theundersurface 64 of the bottom panel 34 facing downwardly, or toward thecontainer lower wall 16. In this position, all the tab pull segments 56will be beneath the respective packets and have their intermediate foldlines 60 substantially in the plane of the container front wall 10.

FIGS. 5-7 depict the operation of the various components of the packetsduring the removal of individual ones of the packets from the bottom ofthe housing 2. The inherent stiffness of the material of the bottommostwrapper blank 32 insures that the tab pull segment 56 will projectdownwardly through the container cut-out 20, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5,so that a user need merely grasp this tab segment and pull straight out,in a plane substantially coplanar with the thickness of the packet 4.During this motion, the top segment 58 of the tab urges the packet frontflap 46 upwardly and forwardly. With the present construction, thislatter displacement insures two actions. First, the initial raising ofthe front flap outer edge 52 also elevates the outer edge 50 of the rearflap 42, since this latter flap was overlying the front flap. Also, theresultant elevation of the front flap 46 causes the undersurface 64 ofthe bottom panel 34 of the next-above packet to be tilted upwardly, inthe area of the housing front wall 10, thus allowing the tab pullsegment 56 of the next upper packet to extend downwardly, with its freeedge 66 disposed in a plane lower than that of the elevated bottompacket front flap outer edge 52.

In the foregoing manner, the continued withdrawal of the bottom packetwill be seen to cause both the front and rear flaps 46,42 of the packetto be opened. The very pulling force being applied to the tab 54 ofcourse fully unfolds the front flap 46 after its outer edge 52 hascleared the container front wall 10, while the rear flap 42 is unfoldeddue to the momentary captive engagement of the tab pull segment 58 ofthe next-above packet, beneath the bottom packet rear flap 42. Thislatter engagement also insures that when the bottom packet is fullyremoved from the housing 2 the tab pull segment 58 of the new bottompacket 4 will be extending downwardly, ready for the next user.

From the above it will be appreciated that the simple withdrawal of apacket 4 by pulling on the tab 54 will provide a user with asubstantially exposed soap leaf 6, ready for use. although no mechanicalinteraction is provided to automatically unfold the two side flaps36--36, it will be understood that, again, the inherent stiffness of thewrapper material will assist in providing ready access to the soap leaf6. In other words, by not applying excessive force along the fold lines38--38 during the assembly of the packets it will follow that thenatural resilience of the material will encourage the side flaps toassume an elevated posture following the opening of the front and rearflaps, thereby further exposing the soap leaf to ready grasping and use.Still further access to the soap leaf 6 is assured by notches 68 in sideflaps 36--36, which permit grasping the soap leaf 6 while the side flaps36--36 are still partially closed.

To guide the user in the operation of the invention, appropriateinstructions are preferably printed on the housing 2.

It will be further appreciated that should the stiffness of the wrappermaterial or other characteristics of the packet prevent packetwithdrawal in the described fashion, the packets may be joined togetherby releasably adhesive means to increase the pulling forces duringwithdrawal. The adhesive separation forces would be necessarily limitedto allow the packets to separate one from the other when the packet iscompletely withdrawn.

Likewise, should it be desired to seal the individual packets to furtherprotect the contents against tampering or contamination, the inventioncontemplates the use of a releasable adhesive to accomplish this.Assistance could be required to open any of the flaps, in addition tothe natural urging of the folded material.

I claim:
 1. A dispensing system for planar articles of manufacturecomprising;a container having bottom, back, front and opposite sidewalls intersecting to provide an interior cavity therebetween, theintersection between said front and bottom walls provided with anopening, a plurality of separate, detached packets stacked atop oneanother within said container cavity with a bottom most one of saidpackets juxtaposed said container bottom wall adjacent said opening,each said packet comprising a unitary wrapper including a central,rectangular bottom panel having opposite side flaps joined to saidbottom panel by respective side folds, front and rear flaps joined tosaid bottom panel by respective front and rear folds intermediate saidside folds, said front and rear flaps each having an outer edge oppositeits respective said fold, a tab extending from said front flap outeredge and joined thereby by an end fold, said tab having a top segmentextending from said end fold and joined to a pull segment by anintermediate fold, said pull segment terminating in a distal free edge,a planar article of manufacture disposed atop said packet bottom panelwith said side flaps inwardly folded along said side folds and directlyoverlying said article of manufacture atop said bottom panel, said frontflap inwardly folded along said front fold and overlying said foldedside flaps with said tab top segment folded along said end fold andoverlying said folded front flap to position said intermediate foldjuxtaposed said front fold whereby, said pull segment angularly extendsbeneath said intermediate fold, said rear flap inwardly folded alongsaid rear fold and overlying said folded front flap, said bottom mostone of said packets within said container cavity having said pullsegment projecting through said opening, said pull segments of all saidstacked packets atop said bottom most packet inwardly folded along saidintermediate fold to underlie its respective bottom panel and overliesaid tab top segment of the next beneath said packet, said outer edge ofeach said packet rear flap spaced from said free edge of said pullsegment of the next above said packet, whereby a user upon pulling saidpull segment of said bottom most packet, progressively withdraws thebottom most packet through said container opening initially with saidrear flap outer edge thereof thereafter passing over said free edge ofsaid pull segment of the next above one said packet and thence said rearflap of said bottom most packet subsequently overlying said pull segmentof the next above one said packet and becoming sandwiched between saidpull segment and bottom panel of said next above packet, with continuedwithdrawal of the bottom most packet causing unfolding of said rear flapof said bottom most packet and deflection of said pull segment of thenext above packet, leaving said pull segment of the next above packetextending through said container opening as said bottom most packet isfully withdrawn with its front and rear flaps unfolded whereafter, withunfolding of said side flaps of the withdrawn packet, the article ofmanufacture atop the bottom panel thereof may be removed for use.
 2. Adispensing system according to claim 1 wherein,said article ofmanufacture within each said packet wrappers comprises a soap wafer. 3.A dispensing system according to claim 1 including,a cut-out portion onsaid side flaps whereby, full unfolding of said side flaps of saidpackets following withdrawal from said container is facilitated bypermitting a user to grasp said side flaps at said cut-out portions. 4.A dispensing system according to claim 1 wherein,said side flaps eachinclude an outer edge, and said inwardly folded side flaps are disposedwith one said side flap outer edge overlying the other said side flapouter edge.
 5. A dispensing system according to claim 1 wherein,saidbottom most packet bottom panel is flushly supported in a planar mannerfrom said front fold to said rear fold and from one said side fold tothe other said side fold.
 6. A dispensing system according to claim 1including,a notch within said container bottom wall communicating withsaid container opening, and said pull segment of said bottom most packetis disposed through said notch prior to withdrawal of said bottom mostpacket.
 7. A dispensing system according to claim 1 wherein,saidcontainer opening is bounded by inclined edges in said container frontwall, angled upwardly and inwardly from said container bottom wall.